Ancient forests revealed

Professor Henry Lamb from the Department of Geography and Earth Sciences Department has been discussing the ancient forests of Tywyn with the BBC News team today.

The winter storms which battered the coastline of Wales exposed previously hidden traces of the area's Stone Age landscape.

A four mile stretch of coastline near Tywyn was so altered by the sea that it was pushed back 50 feet (15 metres).

The new coastline has revealed the existence of an ancient forest, with the remains of trees dating back 6000 years.

Dr Lamb is an expert on radiocarbon dating, which is widely used to measure the ages of archaeological sites, past climate events and changes to the environment.

Using novel methods with a high-tech X-ray core scanner, Dr Lamb can undertake a detailed study of a one metre length of core in a matter of hours, and at intervals as fine as 60 microns - one micron is one thousandth of a millimetre.